How is data obtained?

Where does the data for the NPI come from?

There are three main ways of getting the data for the NPI database:

larger industrial facilities estimate and report their emissions to the government.
state and territory governments estimate emissions from smaller facilities
state and territory governments estimate emissions from mobile and non-industrial sources (such as emissions from activities like driving to work and mowing the lawn), and other sources of pollutants.

Estimates by state and territory governments is the most up to date available. The diffuse emissions data is not necessarily from the same reporting period as the data for a particular facility reporting year being examined. For example diffuse data maybe from a study completed in 1998-99 and the facility data requested from the 2001-02 reporting year.

Diffuse emissions manuals have been developed to assist state and territory governments in estimating emissions from smaller companies, mobile and non-industrial sources.

The state and territory environment authorities collect and assess the emissions data provided by larger industrial facilities, and estimate emissions from sub-threshold sources (smaller companies, mobile and non-industrial). They forward the information to the Department of the Environment and Heritage which then compiles the information and loads it on to the internet.

Testing water purity in Coca Cola Factory laboratory